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The Future - A Community Right to Build Order for a Redeveloped Hall
The trustees of Freshford Village Memorial Hall have prepared a Community Right to Build Order (CRtB order) to fulfil their vision to enhance, modernise and extend the existing Freshford Village Memorial Hall facility to provide a welcoming and attractive multi-purpose focus for local community activity complementing its outstanding rural setting. The intention is to embark upon a phased programme to be carried out over the next 5 years, incorporating refurbishment of the existing village hall building, with extensions to provide a dedicated pre-school space and a possible doctor's surgery extension. This project will significantly improve and ensure the long term viability of a building which acts as the community hub for the villages of Freshford and Limpley Stoke.
The first planned works are to re-clad and re-glaze the existing main hall and meeting rooms in order to provide much higher levels of insulation, reduced heat loss, better waterproofing, enhanced fire safety and an improved appearance. These works will be coupled with a new air conditioning heating system to replace the current oil-fired system which is nearing the end of its life. The new system will have a much reduced carbon footprint demonstrating the trustees' commitment to the Climate Emergency.
Latest Update: Community votes yes for the Community Right to Build Order for Freshford Memorial Hall
56% of the electorate in Freshford and Limpley Stoke chose to vote in the recent Community Right to Build Order Referendum on 6th May 2021, with 484 votes in favour of the proposed development and 41 against. This means the Community Right to Build Order has been approved by the community, and was “made” by B&NES (as the Local Planning Authority) effectively providing planning permission to allow works to start at the Hall.
Background
What is a Community Right to Build Order (CRtB Order)?
A Community Right to Build Order (CRtB Order) Submission is comparable to a Planning Application, but with two key differences:
a CRtB Order can only be submitted by a community group or organisation. The proposal in a CRtB order is submitted to an independent examiner who will review the order to ensure it conforms to national and local planning policies. They will recommend or not, whether it can go to a referendum.
in the referendum, residents of our Neighbourhood Plan Area (as defined by the Freshford and Limpley Stoke Neighbourhood Plan 2014-2039) will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to support this proposal. If over 50% of voters support the proposal then the local authority (Bath and North East Somerset Council) will ‘make’ the order, the equivalent of planning consent.
The Order
The Freshford Village Memorial Hall’s Community Right to Build Order proposes development of land at Freshford Village Memorial Hall, Freshford Lane, Freshford, Bath, BA2 7UR.
The proposed development is to enhance, modernise and extend the existing Freshford Village Memorial Hall facility to provide a welcoming and attractive multi-purpose focus for local community activity complementing its outstanding rural setting.
The proposed development will incorporate refurbished main hall and meeting room accommodation, a purpose-built Pre-school extension and a possible doctor's surgery extension.
Consultation
The process of developing plans to modernise and extend the hall began in 2011 and has been an important aspect of the Freshford and Limpley Stoke Neighbourhood plan that was adopted by Bath and North East Somerset Council in 2015. Extensive formal and informal consultation has been conducted throughout the life of the development project, covering statutory bodies, the local community and other interested parties. The Trustees have used a variety of approaches to engage the residents of the local community including professionally facilitated workshops as well as newsletters, posters and online information sharing. As a result, community responses to the formal consultation exercise held in 2018 were overwhelmingly supportive. The few issues of concern that were raised related to car-parking provision, appearance of the proposed 'front porch' and the development’s general ‘fit’ within the village and its immediate surroundings. Bath and NE Somerset Council made some further observations particularly in relation to the development's character, appearance and impact on the Green Belt, the impact on the trees forming the western boundary and the ecological network, and Highway safety and car parking that the Trustees have addressed in the final CRtBO submission.
The Trustees would like to thank everyone who participated in the 2018 consultation – their input has helped improve the development plans for Freshford Village Memorial hall and will result in a modernised building that will benefit the entire community
Final Community Right to Build Order Documentation
Freshford Village Memorial Hall Community Right to Build Order (Final)
Site Location Plan (Updated October 2019)
Existing Elevations South and West
Existing Elevations North and East
Proposed Site Plan (Updated October 2019)
Proposed Landscape Plan (Updated October 2019)
Full Topographical Survey Plan with Trees
Tree Replacement Plan (Updated October 2019)
Proposed Elevations South and West
Proposed Elevations North and East
Ecology Report (Updated November 2018)
Arboricultural Report, Assessment and Constraints Plan (Revised July 2018)
Arboricultural Impact Assessment and Constraints Plan (Issued January 2019)
Transport Statement (updated November 2018)
Travel Plan (Revised October 2019)
Drainage Report (August 2016)
Clarification Statement in response to the statutory consultation
Report by Independent Examiner to Bath and North East Somerset District Council (2020)
Formal Consultation on the Community Right to Build Order
The formal B&NES consultation on the Community Right to Build order ran from 3rd September to 15th October 2019. The Order was given the following planning application reference number: 19/03783/CRBO. You can view the feedback received on the B&NES Planning website.
The Trustees prepared a clarification statement in response to the issues raised by the B&NES Highways, Landscape, Arboricultural and Ecology Officers. An updated Tree Replacement Plan was also prepared increasing the number of replacement trees to 17. The car parking layout was redesigned to provide all 19 spaces with a 6m manoeuvring area, a widened pedestrian access route to the Hall and surgery and covered cycle parking.
B&NES determined that a further period of consultation was required on this additional information before the draft Order could be passed to an Independent Examiner for consideration. This additional consultation ran from the 6th of November until the 18th of December 2019.
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